Production control
Actual hours against planned time, while the order is still on the shop floor
Production control in a workshop comes down to one question: is this order being made in the hours we planned? Vexyon answers it with every entry, not at month end.
What production control means in a workshop
In a shop that works to order, every job arrives with an expected time: the hours estimated for the quote, or the time the ERP assigns to making it. That is the planned time.
Production control is comparing that figure with the hours the shop actually spends, order by order and section by section. Put like that it sounds simple. The hard part is where the actual hours come from, and when they arrive.
Why hours go missing on the way to the office
When hours are written on paper or kept in a spreadsheet, the figure that reaches the office has been through too many hands:
- It is written down late. Timesheets are often filled in at the end of the shift, from memory, and the hours are spread across orders as best anyone remembers.
- It is retyped. Someone keys the sheets into the computer, and every retyping is a chance for a figure to change or never arrive.
- It gets mixed up. Setting up the machine, waiting for material or remaking a part end up added to productive work, or nowhere at all.
- It arrives too late to matter. If the comparison happens at month end, the order that overran has already been made and delivered.
Nobody is to blame. It is what happens when recording the hours takes more effort than doing the work.
How Vexyon does it
The planned time is already in your ERP
If your ERP keeps its data in a database, Vexyon connects to it read only and reads customers, active orders and planned times, at the interval you choose or when you press the button. How the connection works.
The shop floor clocks in at the machine
Each operator logs hours from a touchscreen kiosk or a phone: customer, order, section, hours and date, picked without a keyboard. What clocking in looks like.
The comparison recalculates instantly
Every new entry updates the order’s actual hours against its planned time, with no screen to reload. You see the variance while you can still do something about it.
The history stays, and reports do not change
Entries are stored on Vexyon’s side, not inside the ERP, and reports filter by date. Last month’s comes out the same today as it will a year from now.
An example: a 12-hour order
An order has 12.0 hours of planned time. Over the day the shop logs cutting, assembly and finishing against it:
| Entry | Section | Hours | Running total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11:40 | Cutting | 3.5 h | 3.5 h |
| 13:15 | Assembly | 2.0 h | 5.5 h |
| 16:50 | Assembly | 4.0 h | 9.5 h |
| 18:05 | Finishing | 4.0 h | 13.5 h |
After the 16:50 entry the order stands at 9.5 h, and when the 4.0 h of finishing arrive it reaches 13.5 h: 1.5 hours over the planned time, 12.5% more. The panel shows it the moment it is logged, not when the month closes. You can run the same sums on your own orders with the hours variance calculator.
What seeing it the same day gives you
- A variance is caught while the order is still on the floor, not after it has reached the customer.
- You know which section the hours went to, because every entry carries its section.
- The next quotes can be built on the actual hours of similar orders rather than on memory.
- The office stops retyping timesheets: the figure arrives on its own and is already where it belongs.
Without an ERP too
If you do not have an ERP yet, or do not want to connect it now, Vexyon runs on its own: you add customers and orders from the panel and the shop floor starts clocking in the same day. When you do connect the ERP, none of the entries already logged are lost.
Frequently asked questions
What is an order’s planned time?
It is the time expected to make it: the hours estimated for the quote, or the time the ERP assigns to making it. Vexyon reads it from the ERP, read only, along with customers and active orders.
How often is the comparison updated?
With every entry. When an operator logs hours against an order, the comparison between actual hours and planned time is recalculated instantly, without reloading the screen.
Does Vexyon change anything in my ERP?
No. The connection is read only: Vexyon reads customers, orders and planned times, and entries are stored on its own side. More on the integration.
If an order is deleted from the ERP, do I lose its hours?
No. Every entry is stored on Vexyon’s side, so that order’s history stays intact even when the ERP no longer has it.